One step closer to home ownership. I have been officially pre-approved for a mortgage. By a big bank, not by one of those doofus mortgage brokers who lent subprime lenders money and then were surprised when they started defaulting on their loans. So now things can move forward in my search for a place to settle down.
Y’know, this is a true milestone year for me. A milestone birthday in November (all will be revealed on the 15th), a great new job, and quite probably, my name on the dotted line for home ownership.
I’m starting to feel so much less depressed about that milestone. In fact, things are downright turning around.
Yep. 5768 is my year.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Does having a Mortgage mean you can buy a house anywhere, or do you have a house all picked out?
Best of luck. I’ll drop you some paypal bucks for a new DVD player (or toaster oven) as a house warming gift.
This is wonderful news! Mazal tov!
P.S. Maybe some kittypics to celebrate?
We bought our first house last year (I’m 45, my wife is 38, the kids are 9 and 2, the Beagles are both 3). We hired a “buyers agent” and he was spectacular! He led us through every step, insisted we look at close to 35 hourses (we bought the second one we looked at!) and did all of the negotiations. We go the house for $500 less than the owner paid for it AND got $1200 cash back from the seller, sellers agent, and him! Good luck, best wishes. BTW, we’re now SITCOMs. Single Income, Two Children, Opressive Mortgage…
Robert
Oh, PS: The cat is 9, and I do know how to spell ‘house!’
Robert
I can buy the house pretty much anywhere, but I have one in mind. I just signed up with a realtor to check out other houses in the area. He’s not a buyer’s agent, but I like him.
I’m going to spend the next couple of weeks looking at existing properties, but there’s a new development going up that I’ve fallen in love with that is tops on my list right now. If I buy there, it won’t be built for about eight months–which is why I’m only going to take a couple more weeks to make up my mind. I’ve been looking around since July and have checked out a few places. I have some pretty specific needs in mind regarding what I want, and where I want it. I won’t look at 35 properties. No need to.
Robert, hope you get that second income soon. Rahel, working on it.
Being pre-approved for a mortgage means that you’ll be taken more seriously by the seller’s real-estate broker when you put your bid in on a house. Back when it was a seller’s market, some houses wouldn’t consider bids that weren’t backed by pre-approval.
My real estate agent was useless. All the houses he showed us stank, we found our own house while driving around, the only “negotiating” he did consisted of asking us what we wanted to do and then writing that down in a letter and sending it to the other buyer, and his only advice was “whatever you want to do”. Oh, and he filled out a boilerplate contract for us.